The future of NodeJS

[cjnoname]

We all understand that new JavaScript runtimes for the server side are emerging almost every week. Moving to Rust could boost performance and help make Node.js more competitive compared to these new options. Rewriting the core in Rust, module by module, might be a good strategy to ensure the longevity of Node.js.

TypeScript is also gaining popularity and gradually dominating the market. Is there any plan to fully support TypeScript in Node.js? The --experimental-transform-types option is a great start, and it seems like it wouldn't be a huge effort to take the next step by respecting tsc settings and making a TypeScript application fully runnable in Node.js without relying on third-party tools.

The trend is that Rust is becoming dominant as a low-level language, while TypeScript is taking the lead as a high-level language. It would be exciting to see a future version of Node.js that integrates both.

[avivkeller]

We all understand that new JavaScript runtimes for the server side are emerging almost every week. Moving to Rust could boost performance and help make Node.js more competitive compared to these new options. Rewriting the core in Rust, module by module, might be a good strategy to ensure the longevity of Node.js.

It'd be a HUGE amount of work to rewrite even the smallest peice of Node.js into Rust. I don't think this kind of overhaul is something the project is looking to do.

TypeScript is also gaining popularity and gradually dominating the market. Is there any plan to fully support TypeScript in Node.js? The --experimental-transform-types option is a great start, and it seems like it wouldn't be a huge effort to take the next step by respecting tsc settings and making a TypeScript application fully runnable in Node.js without relying on third-party tools.

See https://github.com/nodejs/typescript.

[aduh95]

Moving to Rust could […] help make Node.js more competitive compared to these new options.

Leaving aside the fact that this statement seems to be more of an opinion rather than something factual, it's worth noting we (or at least I) don't really care about being competitive. Node.js is an open-source project, for that reason I know I can trust it and contribute to it, it's going to be hard for alternatives to beat that – though I certainly wish for them to succeed.

Anyway, if you're interested in the future of the project, you can take a look at https://github.com/nodejs/next-10 and participate in the discussion there.